Design for a Salon
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1911-28-309-1
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**Design for a Salon** by François-Jacques Delann (French, 1755–1835), ca. 1785, offers a glimpse into the opulent world of late 18th-century French. As a preparatory drawing, it likely sketches the elegant layout and decorative elements of a *salon*—the grand reception room central to aristocratic homes, where intellectuals, artists, and nobility gathered for conversation and Enlightenment discourse. Created on the eve of the French, this work captures the refined Louis XVI style, blending Rococo playfulness with emerging Neoclassical symmetry, emphasizing proportion, classical motifs, and lu...